‘What they really need from you right now is your support, Ben,’ she sighed. ‘They don’t need you going all weird and making things harder.’
‘I wouldn’t do that …’
‘I know, I know,’ she said, grabbing my hand. ‘Just never doubt their love for you, because that’ll never change.’
I nodded my head and gave Mum a little smile. What else could I have done?
‘You’re coming with us tonight, right?’ asked Robert later on that week at lunch.
We were stood in the school corridor in a raucous queue outside the canteen, waiting for Maddy to join us after her food tech class.
A group trip to the cinema had been planned for weeks. Bridget Jones: the Edge of Reason had just been released and Maddy was adamant that we all go and embrace our feminine sides with a girlie film, insisting it was payback for us always making her watch countless action and sci-fi films. Before Paris I was quite looking forward to it, but now, the idea of watching a rom-com with the new lovebirds made me feel queasy.
‘Er …’
‘You could bring Kelly?’ he smirked, giving me a wink.
‘Naaaah …’
‘She really likes you.’
‘She’s not my type,’ I replied dismissively, looking ahead at the queue, willing it to go faster.
‘Didn’t look that way in Paris … it could be a double date.’
‘Look, if you guys want to go on your own I’ll totally understand,’ I offered, the words, ‘double date’ ringing in my ears as visions of them smooching the whole way through the film filled my brain. If that evening’s trip turned into being Robert and Maddy’s first ever date then that was the last place I wanted to be, especially as we’d be watching a rom-com – proper date material.
‘Don’t be daft.’
‘Well, it’s going to happen at some point – I can’t be with you every single time you’re alone together. I’ll be a proper gooseberry.’
‘What are you two talking about?’ asked Maddy, as she arrived and squeezed in between us.
‘Tonight and the cinema,’ informed Robert, raising his eyebrows before pulling her into him and planting a kiss on her forehead.
‘Ooh, have you asked him about Kelly?’ she said with a grin on her face as she looked from Robert to me.
‘Nothing’s happening with Kelly,’ I said, irritated that the pair of them had clearly talked and decided to couple me off with someone.
‘Why not? She’s nice.’
‘She’s not his type apparently – and, he was just about to bail on us.’
‘What? No way! You’re coming!’ she demanded.
‘But –’
‘I’ve been waiting for months to see this and haven’t once moaned when you two have dragged me along to your boy films.’
‘It’s a chick flick …’ I protested.
‘And?’
‘And you guys are on a date.’
‘Do you want to sit in the middle?’ she offered.
‘Erm …’ started Robert, a frown forming on his face at the very thought of it.
‘No!’
‘Because you can … if you want to.’
‘I don’t want to.’
‘That’s a relief,’ laughed Robert.
Maddy rolled her eyes at him, before smiling at me.
‘Ben, tonight is not a date.’
‘It is,’ tried Robert.
‘It’s not,’ she repeated, shooting a warning look in his direction. ‘It’s us three going to the cinema together as usual. Okay?’
‘Fine,’ I said, caving in. There was no way I could get out of the night without upsetting her and, despite my urge to get out of it, I didn’t want to do that.
‘But, it still could be a date,’ smirked Robert. ‘If you brought Kelly … please bring Kelly!’
‘Leave him alone,’ laughed Maddy, looping her arm through mine as we made our way into the canteen.
Maddy
Sixteen years old …
Robert wasn’t my first ever boyfriend (how I wish I could forget my brief, yet embarrassing, relationship with John Martin), but I instantly knew that he was going to be my first proper boyfriend. That we would be together for a long time, that he’d be the first boy I’d ever say ‘I love you’ to and that our being a couple would have a huge effect on both our lives. I think knowing that was what had made me so aroused by the whole thing.
The night we got back from Paris, I was up in my room reliving the previous night, dreamily hugging my pillow, unable to wipe the smile from my face yet again. I’d only been home about ten minutes or so when Dad shouted up the stairs that Robert was on the phone.